A Born Coward
by TunaForDesert
Summary: Just like a merry-go-round, the inside of my head is spinning. Since it's on the verge of spilling from my hands, the thing you left in me (love) where should I throw it away? "I think I'm going to wait a little longer." FuriKuro


"The sky is so clear today."

Kuroko Tetsuya looked at his companion. Furihata Kouki smiled melancholically at the sky. His off-handed comment brought in a comfortable silence unlike their previous awkward ones. Kuroko looked up at the sky. Yes, there was not a single cloud visible today.

"I wonder when?" Furihata asked softly more to himself than to Kuroko. Kuroko did not provide an answer partly because he did not know what the brunet was asking and partly because of that pained, longing look in Furihata's eyes he saw from the corner of his eyes.

The soft breeze that was blowing at the school's rooftop helped lessening the heat. Kuroko and Furihata continued gazing up at the sky, avoiding the sun because the light hurt their eyes.

"You know," Furihata started again, and this time Kuroko turned to look at him because he just sounded so defeated and weary. Furihata turned to his teammate with a soft smile that spoke of those two.

"I think I'm going to wait a little longer."

XXX

Furihata Kouki was an average student, an average basketball player, and basically average in everything else. He didn't have any redeeming skills that could make people give him a second glance, but he strived to be better because he knew there was not a single success that was achieved without effort. He worked twice as hard compared to anyone else, but the ending result was what mattered the most, he had thought.

Until one day, he heard of the Generation of Miracles.

_It was unfair_, he thought as he saw the strong schools being toppled over by Teiko with so much force it was disheartening. Those prodigies were given an unfair amount of talent while ordinary people like him could only watch from behind, not the sidelines, and could only hopelessly dream of what it would be like to be in one of those geniuses' shoes.

And then he saw _him_.

The last match the Generation of Miracles played in middle school was downright humiliating to their opponents. Furihata watched as Meikou's regulars broke one by one. The Generation of Miracles did not appear to realize what they were doing as they continued playing, scoring without thinking of the consequences.

11-111.

The scores were clear, glaring at them. The stadium was in a state of shock, unable to even clap because, even though the end result was expected, the last score was given to Meikou _by one of those monsters_.

'_**Monsters.'**_

Furihata looked at the person who said that. It was an unfamiliar teen with shaggy black hair and oval rimless glasses. He gripped the railing so hard that his knuckles turned white. Furihata turned back to the court. The Generation of Miracles simply stretched, and their center had the nerve to yawn. There was a half-satisfied smirk on their captain's face. Furihata closed his eyes and inwardly acknowledged Meikou for their perseverance. He knew there was no way to fix them now, but they were brave enough to fight until the end.

When Furihata was about to turn to leave, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him because he swore he saw a speck of blue at the corner of his eyes. He turned abruptly towards the direction, and all he saw was nothing. Furrowing his eyebrows, he looked around the area, but there was nothing that was blue. He sighed tiredly and turned around to leave. A shade of blue was visible to his eyes again. This time Furihata concentrated harder, and he finally able to see it, to see _him_.

He was a pale and frail looking teen that was on his knees with tears running down his cheeks.

It was a reaction that somebody would expect. But the whole picture was wrong. For one, the teen was on his knees on _Teiko's_ side of bench. He was wearing _Teiko's_ uniform. That meant he was _Teiko's_ player. At the back of his mind, Furihata felt a nagging uneasiness and confusion. Why was he crying when he team won with ease?

Shaking his head, Furihata left.

XXX

"You like him."

Furihata did not turn to ask how Fukuda and Kawahara knew because even he thought that he was being painfully obvious. The locker room was silent, save for the sounds of clothes rustling.

"You lied about the girl."

Of course, Furihata thought almost bitterly.

"And you lied about her going out with you when we become number one."

Yes, he had another agenda under those words.

"You were actually saying that you'd ask him out when you become the best at something!"

Furihata turned to his two friends, who looked like Christmas had come early this year.

"But," Fukuda turned solemn, "Why would you wait that long? Kuroko is not that kind of person."

Furihata stared at them blankly. His eyes slowly turned downward, and he clenched his fists.

"Yes," he answered because that was the truth. Then he looked up, and there was firm resolve in his eyes, "But Kuroko deserves the best."

XXX

"I think you're just actually insecure."

Furihata sighed. It had been three months since his friends confronted him about his feelings. And the two became some sort of love experts all of a sudden, much to his amusement and chagrin.

Fukuda nodded, agreeing with Kawahara. "I know that Aomine and Kagami are on a completely different level. But _you_, you have a charming personality."

Furihata almost choked on his drink. He turned to Fukuda with an incredulous look.

"Yeah, I mean," Kawahara took a bite of his special bread, "You are a scaredy cat, but you won't run away, ever. You smile at everyone even though you know they sometimes talk behind your back about you. You are also incredibly gullible it's kind of cute. And you will help anyone even if it kills you."

"I don't think Aomine and Kagami would do any of those anytime in their lifetime." Fukuda set the final nail to the coffin.

The brunet sighed, "I don't know," he answered truthfully.

"Maybe I _am_ insecure. But it's completely justified, don't you think? Kuroko has always been attracted to strong and strong people. He's attracted to them like moths to a flame. He's meant for people like them."

"That's why," he smiled, confident and unwavering. "I'm going to be one of those people. I will help Seirin in becoming the top and be the person that Kuroko deserved."

XXX

He helped. He helped his teammates in this important match.

Furihata was actually stunned and in disbelief.

'_**This wouldn't have happened without your help, Furihata-kun.'**_

Kuroko said those words earnestly with one of his rare small smiles, and Furihata had been on cloud nine until the match was over. His heart was beating fast against his ribcage, and it was starting to hurt because he felt so much love for his paler teammate at that moment that he could have kiss him right on the spot.

Fukuda and Kawahara seemed to notice his internal thoughts because they smiled at him encouragingly while throwing glances at Kuroko's direction before turning to him again with an urging look. Furihata smiled at them softly and mouthed two words twice.

_Not yet. Not yet._

XXX

Furihata could count with one hand the number of people that knew he was a fan of Vocaloid. He was not an otaku, per se, far from it actually. But he loved listening to the songs because there were so many tunes, and some of them were heartbreaking and lightening.

The day he discovered Ama no Jaku by Gumi was the day he finally cried because he felt so hopeless and drowned in his own feelings. They were on the verge of spilling, but there was nobody he can share his feelings to since Kuroko was not there. Plus, he did not know.

He spent half of the night downloading and listening to other versions. He liked 143's the best and snuck into his brother's room to borrow his guitar without consent.

He used the other half trying to get the chords right.

XXX

Every time Kuroko had a new book in his small, calloused hands, Furihata looked at the title and stored it in the back of his mind. After he returned from school, he'd sit in front of his computer finding information about the book.

After repeating this pattern for the fifth time, Furihata noticed that Kuroko had a particular fondness towards novels that had storylines of the protagonist or people around them trying to recover from their past mistakes. He also silently admitted that most of those novels were depressing and too philosophical for people like him. Maybe Kuroko liked those novels because somehow he felt some sort of connection with the characters?

With that theory in mind, he tried to copy Kuroko and read a book that had romance genre. Since he was also a fan of supernatural-pure romance was too new for him-, he picked up a popular book that had the girls in his class gushing about handsome vampires.

Maybe starting with Twilight was a bad idea. (Sei: After rereading that book, I too can testify that it wasn't the best choice)

XXX

When Kuroko declared that he was going to take down the Generation of Miracles and show them his basketball was not worthless, Furihata did not care about the fact that he was eavesdropping, albeit unintentionally. His eyes were wide with wonder, and all he could think about was 'Who is this person?' and 'I want to be by his side to take them down'.

Since then, he started paying attention to Kuroko and finally realized that this was the same person he saw crying his heart out at the devastating match against Meikou.

Without knowing, without realizing when and how, Furihata Kouki steadily fell in love with Kuroko Tetsuya.

And fell even deeper as time passed by and Kuroko still did not know.

XXX

"Is it his face?"

Kawahara inquired as he and Fukuda stared down at Kuroko's unconscious face shamelessly. The onsen was too much for him.

Furihata sputtered and answered inaudibly into his towel before storming off declaring that he'd get them some drinks.

He did not turn to see because he knew there was a shit-eating grin on his best friends' faces.

_Not just his face, everything._

XXX

Akashi was a freak of nature. He scared Furihata without even trying. The other Miracles were intimidating, but Akashi was on a different level compared to them, and Furihata half expected that he would be slice in half, no, pieces should he try to oppose the redhead.

So what was he doing right now?

"K-Kuroko did not deserve teammates like a-all of you! Y-you did not care a-about his feelings at all a-and-"

He was close to tears and Akashi's stare was unnerving. Was this what he came all the way from Tokyo for? He did not want to back down now of all times! He would tell this- this monster that Kuroko was better off with Seirin than with the Generation of Miracles any day!

"Did you come here to ask for my blessings?"

Furihata looked up and gaped.

Akashi stared back unabashedly, "I know what kind of homoerotic feelings you have towards Tetsuya. It was clear when you followed him even though you were scared out of your mind. So?"

Furihata was sure he could have fainted right then and there, but Akashi's words froze his bodily function to the point it refused to shut down because it just _froze_.

"I- I don't need your blessings or a-anything!" Furihata's face exploded in color. "And w-why would Kuroko n-needs someone like you to approve of w-who he was d-dating?!"

He would win against this freak of nature and feel better about himself. Maybe.

But then Akashi smirked and Furihata could not help but feel like he had just passed a test.

"Oh? Maybe you're not as cowardly as I think. Alright, I have no objections. Feel free to ask Tetsuya out."

Furihata gaped.

"But," the atmosphere suddenly shifted and Furihata suddenly felt very small when a malicious smirk spread across Akashi's face, "If I ever hear Tetsuya crying because of you, I'm going to make sure to castrate your manhood in the most painful way, and then display it in front of everyone you know."

XXX

"Tomorrow's the final."

Furihata knew what Fukuda implied. But he was too distracted by Kuroko's story at Kagami's place a few minutes prior to even care about that.

He finally opened his mouth after a few minutes, "More than anything else, I want Seirin to win for Kuroko. I know I'm selfish, but I can't help it."

The brunet smiled distractedly. Fukuda and Kawahara looked at each other before smiled indulgently at their brunet friend.

"Well," Kawahara started, smiling softly and understanding, "You did join this club for Kuroko, didn't you? I think coach will be pleased to know that your goal never changed."

"It's different now." Furihata smiled at them brightly. "I want us to win _for_ Kuroko, not _because_ of Kuroko."

"You mean . . ." Fukuda looked half horrified but Furihata turned and looked up at the sky.

"It's alright. I don't think my feelings matter anymore. I want this victory for Kuroko. And I will give it to him with everything I have."

XXX

It was a battle that was filled by sweat, tears and blood. Rakuzan was a force to be reckoned and even after passing their limits, Seirin still won by a small margin. But they won, and that was what mattered the most at the moment. Everyone was dead tired, but they were smiling, and Kuroko was smiling, and Furihata had never felt so happy and satisfied his whole life. He could just _burst_!

"Go."

Akashi said to him softly. Furihata did not turn to him and instead he sprinted to the court where everyone was celebrating. There were players from other schools–Touou, Shuutoku, Kaijou and Yosen–but Furihata's mind was filled with the thoughts Kuroko at the moment.

When he managed to crawl his way into the middle of the sea of people congratulating Kuroko and everyone else, his breath hitched because there was Kuroko, sweating and smiling so much his face could be split into half. He felt the familiar lurch in his stomach, but two reassuring hands landed on his shoulders.

He turned around and saw Fukuda and Kawahara who were smiling at Kuroko's direction. Fukuda looked down and grinned.

"Go get your true love, prince charming. Isn't this what you've been waiting for almost a year for?"

And just with that last 11 worded sentence, Furihata felt nothing else mattered anymore, and he ran forward and hugged Kuroko. He lifted the smaller teen because that was what he felt right now. He was on top of the world! Kuroko yelped, and everyone else laughed because they thought Furihata was just congratulating his smaller teammate.

But then Furihata lowered Kuroko without his feet touching the ground and kissed him full on his lips.

The reactions were amusing, at the least.

Kuroko's was the best, of course.

XXX

Furihata wished he had a camera right now because Kuroko looked so beautiful at the moment he could just die and _still_ be happy.

"Kuroko Tetsuya, I love you."

He wouldn't ask the bluenet out, unless Kuroko wanted it. He confessed his feelings and that was more than enough. The people around them gaped at the unexpected turn of event as Furihata lowered Kuroko and released his waist.

He shuffled away almost shyly. He would be okay with rejection. It would be fine because he swore that his feelings would never matter anymore. Kuroko was what mattered. He treasured the pale teen more than anything else.

Furihata was given the shock of his life when Kuroko lurched forward and hugged him tightly around the waist.

A second later, catcalls and claps once again filled the stadium as everyone laughed and smiled.

Furihata blinked and looked down, but Kuroko buried his face into his torso so he couldn't see the bluenet's face. Though redness at the tip of his ears made Furihata grinned like an idiot because _dammit_, if this was a dream, then never wake him up.

"About time." Hyuuga snorted but there was a small smile on his face. "It's getting awkward trying to ignore the way the two danced around each other."

"Well, it worked out didn't it?" Kiyoshi laughed.

XXX

Furihata Kouki was an average student, an average basketball player and basically average in everything else. But he had Kuroko Tetsuya, and he was suddenly the king of the world, and he would be damned before he gave that up.

* * *

Fin ~

**A/N**: WOW! I never thought I could finish this in 4 hours! It's a miracle I'm glad I didn't hit writer's block because that would be a bitch to get rid of. I'm in the process of writing an omega/beta/alpha type of fic but then I hit the freaking block and oooh, I wish I had Mjolnir so I can crush it. But I am just a simple human so this is the product of hitting a writer's block. It's been a while since I posted a hurt/comfort rare-pair of Kuroko. And I'm freaking proud of this one. About the books that Kuroko read, I read that somewhere in Tumblr. It's a while ago though but I'm pretty sure the storylines had the almost same quality. Ama no Jaku (translated to Heaven's Weakness which essentially means A Born Coward) is a wonderful song. I have at least three versions of it and I love them so much.

-fled to do math and chemistry while crying-

(Sei- I like it.)

ASDFGHJKL xD

**Edited : 15-01-2014**

* * *

黒子のバスケ © Fujimaki Tadatoshi

Edited version © AokazuSei


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